Sports

Molinell’s called PK earns Sea chance to defend Archdiocesan crown

Nicole Molinell had seen enough.

“I wanted the game to be over,” the St. Joseph by the Sea defender said. “I wanted to go out, go have fun with my team. I wanted to smile. I did not want to go home crying.”

The senior watched her team play 100 minutes of scoreless soccer against Maria Regina and seven penalty kick shooters pass without a winner. After Maria Regina’s Molly Boyle missed high, Molinell immediately went to Vikings head coach Arturo Radano and asked to shoot.

“She came to me and said, ‘I’m going to end it now,’” he said. “I said, ‘Yes, you are.’”

Indeed, she did.

Molinell stepped up, took her time and buried a shot to the left post before being mobbed by her teammates. She gave defending champion St. Joseph by the Sea a 4-3 penalty kick win over Maria Regina in the CHSAA Archdiocesan girls soccer semifinals Tuesday at Miller Field. The Vikings also defeated the previously unbeaten Tigers in penalty kicks last season.

“I’m horrible at PKs,” Molinell said. … “I’m really shocked at myself. This is really the greatest feeling in the whole entire world.”

Sea (6-4-1) was a miss away from feeling what it’s like to lose in this situation. Radano’s team has struggled to score all season, but he felt they were destined to win when things went to a shootout. He held back Kylie Catapano from the first five shooters with a hunch they might need more. After Nicola Breen scored for Maria Regina (16-1-0), Catapano put the ball into the top of the net to keep her team alive.

“When we went to the shootout I said to myself we have a 90-percent chance to win this game,” Randano said.

A lot of that confidence had to do with having star keeper Kristy Colangelo in net. The senior, along with a defense led by Laura Kuhn and Allie Macquire, were a big reason why the Vikings were even in that position as Maria Regina produced the majority of the scoring changes.

Colangelo, who made six saves, erased a mistake in the back in the first half, but made a diving save to her right on a breakaway shot by Meghan Caspare. Molinell said they would have gotten beat had the Vikings defense not stepped up.

“We always count on our defense to be rock hard,” Colangelo said. “Nobody gets by us.”

She made two more saves during the shootout, including a leaping stop on Maria Regina’s third attempt. Colangelo couldn’t bring herself to watch her teammates shoot the longer it went. She would walk to the side of the goal waiting to hear the crowd’s reaction.

“I couldn’t even look,” she said. “I was just hoping that everyone would make it.”

The Vikings felt many people didn’t think they would make it this far after losing a bulk of seniors from last year’s title team. But they are back in the final to face unbeaten rival St. Joseph Hill 1:30 p.m. Friday at the College of Staten Island. The players stressed the importance of their forwards and midfield playing better if they are going to beat the Hilltoppers for the first time in three tries.

“Everyone really looked at us as the underdogs,“ Molinell said. “Everyone was like, ‘They don’t really have a lot of good players. They are going to come in third. We really proved everyone wrong.”

She, however, proved to be right.